


The Ghost of Pandora

by Iyearnforaplotadvancement



Series: The Ghost of Pandora [3]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Dark and Stormy, F/F, F/M, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Halloween, Horror, Longing, Loss, Lost Love, Obsession, Scary Stories, Ship Teasing, Suspense, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, spooky vibes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-01 09:49:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20813144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iyearnforaplotadvancement/pseuds/Iyearnforaplotadvancement
Summary: They are not alone in these woods.





	1. Denial

**Author's Note:**

> In honor of "Spoopy Month" I have for you my Borderlands 3 DLC (It's not really a DLC, sorry). It's gonna be a short lil' blurb of five chapters and maybe an epilogue and I hope y'all enjoy it! Leave me a comment bc I love them so much. 
> 
> You DO NOT have to have read the other two installments in this series to get this one. But if you do, let me know how you liked it.

Gaige looked up at the busted, blinking neon green sign. It had read, “Welcome to Veridian”, but nearly every other letter was off or broken, making the sign nearly eligible.

Gaige glanced over her shoulder at her team mates.

The four new Vault Hunters were all assigned to come with her. Krieg was with her too, making the mission a very crowed house.

It was by Tannis’s will that the a six-man extraction team be sent down to the planet’s surface.

“Veridian is a very dangerous place, maybe even more dangerous than Pandora,” Tannis warned, “People who come here seldom make it back,”

“Then why are we going?” Moze asked, crossing her arms.

Tannis scoffed, “Well look at you all. You’re not people, mutant people, more like it. You’re perfect for the job,”

Classic Tannis, never could give a straight compliment.

After she had received news of Lilith and Maya’s deaths, Gaige hurried as fast as she could back to Sanctuary. There was the expected mourning. Then the fights that broke out over who did what. Eventually they had all settled and Gaige was left standing.

Her ‘family’ hadn’t been one for some time. Opening the Vault of the Warrior had been the last time she’d seen everyone together. After that they had all scattered across the universe. Gaige-besides Salvador and Zero- was the only who showed up. She supposed she would have felt disappointed if it hadn’t been for the knowledge that one of the vault hunters were dead, one was missing, and the other was marooned on some strange planet with his ex-wife. Beggars could not be choosers.

Before Gaige knew it, she was beamed down onto Veridian with her new team.

Someone had guilted her into the mission, they must have. Otherwise she would have been on her merry way after the funeral service to save her Captain Dumbass and Lieutenant Frowny-Face. Yet here she was, picking up some MacGuffin package for Tannis with her new team.

She supposed they weren’t all bad. They were tolerable. Skilled. Definitely weren’t the amateurs Gaige and her crew had started out as.

Moze she took an instant liking to when they first meant. Moze was all rock-and-roll and smiles (and cursing, lots of cursing). A woman truly after her own heart. Amara was fun, courageous, and always up for some friendly or not so friendly competition. FL4K was undeniably charming and knowledgeable about a plethora of topics...And then there was Zane.

“Aye. It’s almost as green as the motherland,” Zane said, commenting on the planet’s monochromatic environment, “Yeh’ know, because I’m Irish-,”

Gaige rolled her eyes and hopped on her Echo, “Tannis, we made it in one piece,”

“Oh good, I was getting worried,” Tannis said in her usual nonchalant tone of voice. “The package you seek is in the hands of a rather shady bandit lord. His name is Skek and he’s a rather untrustworthy fellow, so I will have no reservations if you need to kill him,”

“Will do, Tanny. Any special delivery instructions?”

“Yes, whatever you do, do _not-,” _The Echo transmission began to cut in an out. Gaige was only catching bits and pieces of what Tannis had been saying.

“What? Wait-wait, Tannis-,” Gaige said. But by then the signal had faded. The transmission had long gone dead. Gaige sighed and placed her Echo device back in her storage deck. Maybe she’d try again later.

“What’s the plan, Chief,” asked Moze.

Gaige smiled a little, she liked it when Moze called her that. It reminded her of her when she’d follow Axton and Sarah around on PM gigs. She’d always called Axton, ‘Boss’ and Sarah, ‘Sarg’. Gaige’s face fell a little, remembering that they were currently a whole galaxy and a half away.

“Ding-dong-delivery,” Gaige said. “It should be quick. We meet up with Skek, take the package, murder him if he won’t give up the package, and get out of here,”

“The sooner the better,” Amara added, “This place is giving me the creeps,”

Veridian was once a prosperous mining planet, that was until something had mysteriously killed everyone in sight. A few decades back only a handful of towns were reestablished out of the three-thousand that were originally started. The bandits and illegal arms dealers settled in a little while after that. The planet as a result was eerily quiet. There was minimal noise, even from the wildlife. Only the wind had provided any noise as it pushed dried leaves across the hard ground.

“Take a minute to get your gear ready,” Gaige said as she looked around for her psycho companion.

“Your friend took off to the woods over there,” said Moze.

Gaige nodded and began walking in the direction Moze pointed to.

“Where are you, Krieg,” Gaige mumbled as she moved into the thicket of trees. She had taken him, not because she particularly needed him, but because he needed to be out. Being holed up on the ship wasn’t good for him and neither was hiding away in his cave. Too many memories, too many ghosts. He needed to keep busy.

Gaige had found him standing against the thick forest. His back was to her. Krieg had normally responded when someone walked up behind him. But he had barely moved and Gaige wasn’t even trying to be quiet.

“Muscle Man, you gonna gawk at the trees all day or are we gonna go break some necks?” she asked playfully, trying to get him to turn around. But when he hadn’t, Gaige began to feel worried.

“Big Guy? Conductor-,” Gaige prompted the man multiple times until finally, “Krieg-,”

Krieg turned slowly and looked at her. Krieg has since stopped using the full Hyperion gas-mask and instead began wearing a half mask that Gaige and Ellie had made for him. Gaige liked it more because she could see his eyes better. Currently his eyes were as wide as saucers.

“You alright, you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

Krieg looked back into the infinity of the woods and nodded. “Maybe,”

Gaige rubbed her robot arm, “Okay. Well we need to get back with the others,” she said.

Krieg made no motion to let her know that she was being understood. Instead he just walked to the general direction of the group. Gaige watched him leave then followed after him.

Her mind was buzzing with a dozen questions but she thought it best to let the proverbial dog lie. There was a lot he’d needed to process following Maya’s death. Gaige knew that best. Grief was never really Gaige’s strong suit either. She doubted it was anyone’s.

But unbeknownst to Gaige, in the midst of all her wondering, she’d miss stepped. Her foot had slid on a mossy rock and the imbalance had sent her straight to the muddy ground.

She landed with an ‘oof-’ and made a quick recovery.

“Oh gross,” Gaige said, brushing the crumbly, wet plant life (she hoped to someone’s God is was plant life) off her face. “Oh god I got it in my mouth,” she lamented as she continued forward.

When she rejoined her group, the new vault hunters were having an arm wrestling contest.

“Hey, organic arms _only,” _Zane snipped at a smug looking Amara.

“Says who?” Amara challenged.

“Says me, that’s cheatin’,”

Moze and FL4K laughed on the side lines, “Oh hey, our fearless leader’s back,” Moze said.

Gaige pointed guns at her Ursa-Mech wielding friend. Moze in response had feigned being shot and dramatically fell into FL4K’s arms.

“Nerds,” Amara called as she engaged Zane in another round of arm-wrestling.

“Hey what’s that on your face, then?” Zane asked, looking over at Gaige.

“I fell, I got this crap all over me,” she responded.

“Oh, I just thought you were into Crow-caine,” Moze said.

“What the hell is that?” Zane queried.

“It’s a substance mined from the indigenous people of Crowcus. Very potent to the user. Not green though,” FL4k said.

“Oh I thought-,”

“HRRRRG, THERE’S SO MANY PEOPLE TALKING-,” Krieg yelled.

“Krieg’s right, we’re getting side tracked,” Gaige said, “FL4K, why don’t you digi-struct us some cars?” she added, looking at her binary-non-binary companion.

“Right away,” they replied.

“Zane go with him,” Moze said, looking at the last Flynt brother.

“Why?”

Moze and Amara glanced at each other then back at Zane, “Because,” they replied in unison.

Zane rolled his eyes and followed after FL4K, mumbling under his breath about being too pretty to walk. Moze and Amara chuckled softly to themselves as they waited for the other two to return.

* * *

About half an hour later, all six vault hunters were driving towards their destination.

Or had tried to anyhow.

“I think we’re lost,” said Amara, pointing to a rock formation. “We’ve passed that rock several times,”

“How do you know?” Zane prompted.

“I remember it’s green-,”

“Mara, everything is green out here,” Moze said. Moze was right.

Veridian had been aptly named. Nearly everything on the planet was some variation of the shade green. The vegetation, the water, the rocks, even the dirt; everything had been green. A fog had settled in about ten minutes into their drive. It was dense enough to reduce their visibility to nearly nothing. It didn’t help that it was also green.

Gaige pulled out her map and tried to track the bandit location. But her map’s hologram display was fading in and out.

“Anyone else getting a fuzzy signal?”

The others checked their own Echos and made a rumbling noise as a group that more or less sounded like a ‘yeah’.

Gaige grumbled, “Oh great,”

“Hey I see something up ahead,” Moze said, pointing to what seemed to be lights just over the crest of the hill, “Maybe it’s a town, they’ll know where to go,”

Amara and Zane looked at Gaige pointedly, “What cha’ thinkin’, Lass?”

Gaige nodded. “It’s not a bad idea. FL4K, can you send your skag to scout out the place?”

“Affirmative, Leon,” FL4K said, calling forward their skag, “Find out what’s making those lights,”

The skag yelped and took off running towards the light. “How long will it take him to get back?” Gaige asked her robot companion.

“Leon likes to make a thorough investigation of the terrain and assess any potential threats in the area,” They replied.

“So like, an hour?” Moze asked.

“Yeah, about an hour,”

Gaige shrugged, “Well, take a bathroom break or something. I wanna make it a straight shot to the bandit camp when Leon gets back,”

“Got a hot date or something?” Zane joked.

Gaige chuffed, “Why you jealous, Grandpa?”

“On the contrary, I feel sorry for you. You have to settle for some gobshite with missing teeth when you could be staring at this handsome face all night,” Zane said with that slimy smile Gaige found equal parts appalling and funny.

“I can change that if you’d like,” Gaige said with a crack of her knuckles.

“I hear screams,” Krieg said suddenly, garnering the attention of the others.

“Is that normal psycho talk?” Amara asked.

Krieg had exited the vehicle then. Gaige raised her brow, “Krieg? Where are you going,”

“She calls to me-,” Krieg said, heading off into the fog.

“Krieg,” Gaige called, dismounting the vehicle’s gun.

“Gaige, wait,” Moze called.

“Change of plans, you guys go find Leon. When I get Krieg back we’ll meet you over that hill,”

Zane made a sound of frustration and exited his vehicle prompting Moze to question him, “Where are _you _going?”

“Someone’s gotta watch her back,” Zane said, prepping his gadgets. “Go on ahead, if we die, you’ll know,”

“Be safe out there, Flynt,” Amara said, climbing down from her gunner’s position to drive Moze.

“No promises,” he said before disappearing into the fog.

* * *

Gaige had followed the sound of Krieg’s rambles until his voice faded into the fog.

The air felt thick and coated the insides of her lungs. The mossy, cloying smell of rotting vegetation and stagnant water was beginning to make her head spin. “Krieg,” Gaige called, not really thinking about any threats nearby that could hear her. “Krieg, where are you?”

She could see nothing more than a few inches away from her nose. The fact both unsettled and enraged her. The ambiance of the outdoors was barely audible over the sound of her own rapidly beating heart. Gaige’s breath was becoming eradict. Her nose and skin had begun to itch to an almost unbearable amount.

_It’s the damn fog, I gotta get out. _In an act of desperation, Gaige began to swat at the fog in a feeble attempt to dissipate the vapor. When that hadn’t worked, Gaige had begun to move into a random direction, any direction to lead her away from the green vapor’s clutches.

* * *

Zane had turned on his thermal trackers.

The fog had made anything nearly impossible to see, and with one less eye, he didn’t quite trust his sight. His thermals were picking up nothing besides himself (one solitary, red dot). Absently, Zane cursed under his breath.

Why couldn’t have the brat ran off after the fog?

And what was the big deal if one psycho got away, anyhow?

“Ah, don’t be such a hard-ass, handsome,” Zane said aloud to himself, “You’d do the same,” he said. “Actually,” he corrected himself, “No I wouldn’t. Because I understand the importance of a mission,”

Zane laughed at himself, he was a funny bastard he’d admit. Though his jokes were always funnier when there was someone there to laugh or groan at him. By himself in the fog and the odd, low rattling of _something, _well...it was just eerie.

“The sooner we’re out, the better,” Zane said to himself.

“I agree,” said a voice that wasn’t his own.

Zane stopped cold in his tracks. His eyes glanced down at his thermal scanners.

Only one, red dot.

* * *

Krieg had felt like he’d been walking forever.

The Little Man in his head had been uncharacteristically quiet. Big Guy was never a fan of him, but the silence had been concerning at the very least.

Here he was, hearing voices that weren’t Little Man’s and Little Man wasn’t around to tell him something was wrong. It felt wrong, unnatural. It felt dangerous. Then again, Krieg was not a man who ran from danger.

“Krieg,” said her voice.

It was unmistakable. Crisp. Clear.

_That’s impossible,_ Little Man said, forlornly.

“You can hear me, Big Guy, I know you can,”. There she was again.

_But how. _

Krieg came upon a pond. He looked around. When had he walked into a forest? How had he gotten that far?

Krieg looked down at his feet. The tip of his boots were just grazing the waterline of the pond. Something deep within him called him into the water. Krieg had plunked one foot straight into the pond. Without a second thought he sunk another. Then again and again.

Before long he was wading waist deep in the dark water.

Dark? Krieg looked up at the sky. The water reflected the atmosphere above. The fog had vanished, revealing the deep violet sky above him.

What time was it? Had that mattered? Why was he here in the first place.

“Krieg,”

He looked straight ahead.

In front of him stood Her; The Goddess, the very giver of life, the reason to live, and the even better reason to die.

She had looked exactly the way she did when she had left. It was as if she had been plucked from that day and dropped down directly into the dirty pond with him.

“Maya,” Said the Little Man, taking over Krieg’s mouth in a moment of lucidity. “It can’t be, you’re-,”

“It’s me,” said the vision. As if to prove it’s existence, the apparition reached out for him.

Krieg flinched, stepping back from the vision.

It’s face contorted into a look of pain. “Krieg, please I promise it’s me. Just touch me,”

This was absurd. She was gone. There was no way. Yet here she was.

The specter held out it’s hand. Krieg gawked at it, staring hard at the outstretched limb. It had looked real enough. There were tattoos where there should have been. The nails were painted how she liked. Even the delicate lines in her hands had been the exact same.

Krieg looked at the vision one more time.

The glint in her eyes were there. The oceans that were her irises were as vibrant and clear as he had remembered. This thing couldn’t have been Maya, so then why did it look so much like her?

“Krieg, please,” the apparition pleaded once more, “I need you,”

It was too much. Krieg had broken right then and there.

He reached out his calloused hands and placed it on top of her’s. Part of him had expected to fall right through the vision’s and into the water just below him.

That’s why he supposed he was so shocked when his hand didn’t.

* * *

Gaige reached a clearing where the fog seemingly hadn’t followed.

When she looked up at the sky she had seen that the bright purple atmosphere had turned a deep, violet shade. She had made a face.

It was night.

Gaige shook her head, how long had she been walking around?

Gaige stepped further into the clearing, distancing herself far from the thick cloud of fog that lingered. She took her Echo device from her storage deck and tried to call Tannis.

To her great relief, the other end picked up, and it had sounded clear as Pandoran day.

“Sweet baby Jesus, Tannis-,”

“Gaige-,”

Gaige had made an audible noise of shock and dropped her Echo device.

“What the fuc-,”

“Gaige? Gaige, baby it’s me! It’s mom-,”

Gaige’s body shook. This was a dream, it had to be.

“Gaige? Hello? Baby are you there? Gaige, honey, please answer. Baby?”

The young woman’s eyes darted to her organic arm.

“I’m dreaming-I’m dreaming,” Gaige said. Moving her robotic arm, Gaige slapped the cold metal onto her organic arm as hard as she could. “Shit-!” she cried and she then clutched the afflicted area. Gaige looked down at her slowly bruising arm. She rubbed at the spot furiously as the voice coming from the Echo continued to speak.

Her mother was dead. Long dead.

Wasn’t she?

_I couldn’t have murdered her. _Gaige remembered the man on the stand. She had been too young then to understand how bad she’d wanted revenge, accident or no. The man who killed her mother had been the first person Gaige had ever wanted to kill.

She watched the trial from the comfort of her own living room. Her dad hadn’t let her come with him to the actual trials. But she was allowed to watch, sheltered from the real-life horror supposedly. It hadn’t done anything to diminish the nightmares, the blood-lust, or the sheer sorrow that grew from watching that man flap his mouth on the stand when he should have been hanging dead. Over time, those feelings had disappeared. Gaige had found robot building and it had mostly taken her mind off the man. But she had never quite forgotten what he had said that day on TV.

_I couldn’t have murdered her. There wasn’t a body. _

There wasn’t a body.

Gaige had gingerly picked up the Echo.

She looked around as if someone would have caught her and berated her for giving into this moment of madness. But she needed to know.

“Gaige. Baby, where are you?” said her mother’s voice, desperate.

Gaige placed her thumb on the Echo’s response button. “I’m here,” Gaige said.

* * *

“Hey, the fog’s thinning,” said Moze from the gunner’s seat.

“The lights are getting closer,” Amara replied, pointing ahead. “I see Leon,”

The vehicles slowed as they came within range of the Skag.

FL4K reached down to pet their animal. “What have you found?”

The skag barked and dropped something into FL4K’s hand. The robot brought it closer to their optic sensor. “It’s a magazine. Looks new...it’s full too,” said the robot as they opened their door for Leon to climb in.

“Sounds like there’s people nearby,” Moze deduced. The soldier settled into her gunner seat. “Any word from the others?”

Amara and FL4K shook their heads.

Moze shrugged, “Let’s keep going. Gaige said she’d meet us there,”

Amara nodded and pressed her foot on the car’s accelerator. FL4K followed close behind.

“Hey slow it down, Mara!” Moze shouted.

Amara had slowed the vehicle and eventually came to a stand still. Moze pointed down at the ground.

“it’s a cliff,” she stated.

FL4K stopped right behind his companions. Turning to Leon he asked, “Why didn’t you inform me of this before?”

The skag just turned his head in response.

Moze peered over the edge of the cliff into the gulch below. Her eyes could make out the tops of what looked like buildings. The rooftops were scattered along a main drag that led all the way to three larger buildings. “Looks like there’s a town at least,” Moze mumbled.

“Show us how you got down there,” FL4K said to their skag.

Leon had hopped out of the vehicle and trotted in place. He whimpered as he did, confusing Moze and Amara. They looked at FLAK for clarification.

“I don’t understand, it’s like he doesn’t see what we do,” FL4K said.

The skag whimpered louder and tried to claw his way back into the vehicle. The robot had opened the door and let their pet back inside.

“We’ll have to find our own way in, I guess,” Amara said, revving her engine.


	2. Temptation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it.”  
― Mae West

“Hey, they got a bar,” Moze said pointing to the one of the three large buildings ahead.

“We should go in, ask where the bandit camps are,” Amara said, exiting the vehicle.

“Stay here, Leon,” FL4K said.

The skag whimpered but sat in place. Moze threw a worried look the skag’s way and pet the beast’s head. “We’ll be quick, be a good skag for FL4K,”

Leon seemed to settle but began to whimper again as the trio made their way into the town.

“What’s up with Leon,” Asked Moze, looking over her shoulder at the fading image of the skag.

“He senses something around here, it could be anything,” FL4K explained, “Even the slightest change in the air can concern him,”

“So should we ignore him?” Amara asked.

“For now, yes. Perhaps he needs time to acclimate,”

Moze shrugged at Amara who shrugged right back.

They seemed to push the thought of the worried skag from their minds as they crossed the threshold into the town.

The place was brightly lit and decorated as if it was some festive holiday. People were busy hanging lights and taping up signs to the fronts of their buildings.

A few bystanders stared at the three Vault Hunters walking through.

FL4K remained stoic, Amara posed and waved, and Moze kept herself as low profile as she could, simply smiling at the people who stared.

There was something archaic about the townspeople. They had looked different in both clothes and grooming. There was a general style that resonated across many planets in this galaxy and these people weren’t even close to fitting within those parameters. Normally, Moze would have just chalked it up to a cultural difference. But these people seemed liked they were living in a different century.

Maybe that had been the case. Maybe these people who resettled Veridian had been limited in their technology. In any case it was certainly odd.

When they reached the bar, Moze was taken aback by the structure. Firstly it was made from _wood_, something they’d stopped using about _two thousand _years ago. Secondly, the structure looked almost brand new. The resettlement of Veridian happened years ago. 

“What’s wrong?” FL4K asked.

Moze began to explain when a patron of the bar stumbled out. Drunk as a varkid on Rakk Ale. The bar patron loudly proclaimed that they were ‘fucked up’ and proceeded to get in Moze’s face. The Gunner rolled her eyes and pushed the drunk aside. Having lost her train of thought, she waved FL4k off and made her way inside the bar.

Amara flanked her side and looked around.

The crowd seemed jovial, welcoming even. No one had batted an eye as the three vault hunters entered, probably because they were all drunk off their asses. Amara marched up right to the bar and winked at the bartender. The bartender responded in kind. “What can I get y’all?”

“Three Rakk Ales,” said Amara, then she turned over to look at FL4K and winced, “Sorry-um-make that two,”

“Rakk Ales?” the bartender echoed, confused.

Amara and Moze exchanged glaces. “You don’t carry that here?”

“Afraid not,” said the bartender, “We’re a little limited on booze supply. We got beer, vodka, or you can try some of our moonshine,”

Amara shrugged, “I’ll try a moonshine, then,”

“I’ll have one too,” Moze said without much protest.

The bartender poured the ladies two steep glasses pushed them over to their side of the bar.

Amara looked at the substance curiously. “It’s clear-,” she said. “Sure it’s not water-,”

“Must be super refined,” Moze commented. She took a sniff of the alcohol and made a face, “Oh, definitely not water,”

The women cracked a smile at each other and clinked their glasses together. “Bottoms up,” said Moze.

They drank deeply from the glasses, only stopping to take a breath between gulps. By the time they hit the bottom they were seeing lights swim past their eyes. Moze snorted. Amara giggled and pretty soon they found themselves in a secluded booth in the corner of the bar.

“This stuff works fast,” Moze said, looking into her glass.

“Works good too,” Amara said, cuddling up to Moze.

The Gunner froze. The tingling sensation of the booze was mitigated by the tension she felt next to Amara. The Siren looked at her with a frown. “What is it?”

“It’s just-,” Moze mumbled.

“What?” Amara asked, backing up from her.

“I don’t know if we’re-okay here,” Moze replied as she looked over the crowd of other patrons. She tried to ignore the ones that were beginning to stare and absolutely ignored the ones who were beginning to whisper.

Amara threw a glance at the crowd and knew exactly what Moze was implying.

“You’re worried about some ignorant, backwater people judging us?” Amara scoffed.

“I just don’t want to cause a scene,” Moze said, pushing away her glass.

“You always do this,” Amara grumbled.

“Tannis said to keep a low profile-,”

“Low profile?” Amara exploded, “I am the Tiger of Partali. You’re an Ursa Mech Gunner, we are not fit for _low-profile _and our feelings shouldn’t be either,” Amara said. She punctuated with a long swig of the moonshine. Moze had felt the need for a swig herself.

“Who is more important, them or me,” Amara asked without looking at Moze.

“You’re important to me, Amara,” Moze said, looking at her with earnest.

Amara turned to her and gently cupped her face. “Then show me,”

Moze looked around then at the crowd who were staring. Suddenly a fire had lit in her belly. She put on a brave face and downed another third of her moonshine and turned to the crowd, holding up her glass.

“My name is Moze and I’m about to kiss the hell out of this Siren-!”

With a grand gesture, Moze drank the last of the moonshine and then planted one giant kiss to her partner’s lips.

* * *

FL4K had heard Moze’s declaration from the other side of the room, but curiously could not find her.

The robot was unsure of what was happening in that moment. Their optic sensors were picking up movement, heat. Obviously it was Moze and Amara. Yet there were dozen of others in the room who’s thermal signatures FL4K was not getting. Not warm, not even cold, just nonexistent.

FL4K would reach out periodically and grab a person or object to test their sensors. Every time their feedback had come back the same; something was present. And yet, every other sensor would come back negative. It was as if their optical, auditory, and thermal sensors were malfunctioning. However a quick diagnostic test had said otherwise.

“Perplexing,” FL4K said.

A nearby bar patron had jumped at the sound of FL4K’s voice. The droid turned in direction of the patron who was laughing nervously. “You a new service model? I forget they talk,”

“Service model? Pray-tell, human, for what service would I be fulfilling,”

The bar patron laughed even more nervously. “Uh, like whatever the bar needed guess. I dunno I’m not really a programmer or anything...That AI is pretty complex. It’s like I’m a real conversation,”

This only went on to stupefy FL4K more, “This is a conversation. A very unfulfilling and pedantic one at that,”

The bar patron could only laugh nervously and walk away as if FL4K had been the unstable one.

Though, due to the fact that FL4K’s memory's suddenly had no recollection of such a patron and that there was no heat signature coming off the supposed human…

Well maybe FL4K _was._

* * *

Gaige stood in the clearing in the forest. Her whole body trembled as she waited for a response.

“Gaige,” breathed her mom.

At the sound of her voice, Gaige felt her throat tighten. Her eyes welled with tears as her mother spoke. “Baby it’s been so long,”

“M-mom-,”

“It’s me precious, don’t cry,”

Gaige wiped her face with her arm. “How is this even possible, what’s happening? You’re _dead_,”. That in itself had sounded alien, wrong, _dirty. _It was blasphemous, how could her mother be dead when she was right here.

The Echo had gone quiet and Gaige had wondered if the signal was dying out. Part of her was beginning to be relieved of the moment and the pressure, but another part of her desperately wanted to hang to the fleeting memory of her mom.

“It’s complicated. What matters is that I’m here now. We’re here,” said Gaige’s mom, “And I am never letting you go,”

* * *

“Krieg we don’t have much time,” Maya said, holding firmly onto his hand.

The psycho was struck mute by the vision- person?

Maya’s face was pleading, anxious. But for what? What had upset the Goddess?

“I need your help-,”

Anything.

“I’m stuck here,” Maya said, “I’m trapped and it’s painful. It hurts more than anything I’ve ever known. I wasn’t supposed to die like that. It was _unnatural _and even worse it pinned me here in this plane. My body is gone and but my soul is stuck.”

Krieg was sold the minute Maya had asked him for help. But the knowledge that she was in pain had made him only more eager to assist her.

“How do I help?” asked Little Man.

“I need you to release me,” Maya said, “There’s a place in the caves. It’s an old resting ground. The birth place of the first siren. You go there, you destroy my totem, you set me free,”

“You’ll disappear,” Krieg murmured. “...So much I wanted to say,”

Maya smiled sadly, “Well it’s a long trip. Why don’t you tell me on the way there,”

* * *

Zane had finally broken free of the fog. But he was now smack dab in the middle of the forest. He supposed this was better, at least here he could see. Sort of...

_Flashlight, _he thought, _No, I don’t want to be a walking target. _

Zane decided then and there to traverse the woods in the dark. With any luck he’d run into Gaige and maybe they could finish their objective and leave.

_Just keep walking, Zane, _he thought, _then after this I’ll treat yeh’ to a pint...or three. _

He slowed the deeper he traveled into the dark. He was worried about slipping on a rock or getting his foot caught in an exposed root if he walked too fast. And without the aid of a light source his journey was even more precarious.

Absently, he wondered where and how the others were doing. His nerves were eased a little by the fact that Moze, Amara, and FL4K were mostly out of harm’s way. Hell, they might even be retrieving Tannis’ package by now. Even better if that was the case. Though it was just as likely they were dead.

Zane rolled his eyes and tried to stuff down the irritation growing in his belly. There was a reason why he never did teams, there was too much liability involved for them to be a successful mode of execution. And their _fearless_ leader...

Zane grumbled. He’d give Gaige an ear full for making him worry. And for walking through the mud.

The moonlight had broken through the canopy of leaves above him. The light was weak, but it illuminated the ground just enough to show him what was ahead. Zane stopped in his tracks and noticed the ground was covered in a powdery, thin layer of green dust.

Curious, he knelt down to the ground to inspect it. He touched the powder with his gloved fingers and rubbed it between his digits and his thumb. A sharp tingle ravaged it’s way down his nostril and poked and prodded his sinuses. Zane sneezed, sending the powder everywhere around him.

Zane coughed, waving the dust away from him as he did. “Shite-,” he hacked between the coughing fits. When the dust had settled, Zane ducked behind a tree, hoping to find cleaner air. Zane hacked and spat out the wood-rot taste that had formed in his mouth.

“What’s a matter?”

Zane jumped, his hand flew to his pistol. “Aye that’s a cunt move, scaring an old man while he’s down-,”

Zane walked around the tree and felt a fist strike him in the gut. “Son of a-,”

When he was able to stand straight, he scanned the area for his assailant, only to be knocked forward into the dark. Zane popped up and began the hacking cough once more. Feebly, he wiped at his face, trying to rid himself of the dust.

“Why don’t you come out and fight me face to face?” Zane asked, from the ground.

“Why should I?”

“Honor and all that,” Zane mumbled, pulling himself up.

“I prefer pragmatism,” said the voice.

The moonlight had disappeared, he could barely make out the trees around him. But the silhouette of another had made him pause.

“Well it’s working for you, I’d say,” Zane replied.

“You think so?” The silhouette had stepped in front of Zane. He reeled back his fist and shot it forward...into a tree.

“Gah-!” Zane clutched his fist and spat another curse. “Alright ya bastard, just who the feck are ya’? Corporate spy? Did Clegane send you after me?”

“You don’t know me, Zane? After all that time we spent together? Promethea, Dionysus, Vulcanus, Realto-12..._Pandora?” _

Zane’s brow scrunched as his eyes searched for the source of the voice. “I haven’t te’ faintest of ideas,” he droned.

“I am Death,"

* * *

“Follow the path of toadstools through the forest, Gaige. I’m there, in a cottage, by the cave-,”

“How did you get there?”

“It doesn’t matter, baby. I’m there. And I need to see you,” her mother said, her voice shaky. “I’ve missed you so much,”

“I-I missed you too mom...there’s so much that’s happened, I-,”

“-I know. I know...Follow the toadstools, honey. And I’ll see you soon,”

The signal from the Echo was fading out again. Gaige clung onto the Echo device hoping to hear her mother’s voice for just another minute. “Mom? Mom-?”

The Echo had gone dead. The sounds of the Veridian night resumed. In the forest, Gaige stood alone.

She put her Echo back on her belt and shook her head.

This was insane. That couldn’t have been her mother. It just couldn’t have been. It didn’t make any sense. Even if the police hadn’t found a body, why exactly would she have come to Veridian? Why hadn’t she tried to contact Gaige and her father?

It was insane.

It was _insane_.

And yet…

Gaige could not convince herself to turn around.

Her mind told her to move and yet she couldn’t bring herself to.

The idea of seeing her mother, being held in her arms once more, was too tempting. Gaige tried to remember the last time her mother had held her. The feeling had been long forgotten and the thought had choked Gaige up once more. She couldn’t remember. But she had wanted to so bad.

_You don’t have to remember any more, you can feel it. You can do it right now, _Gaige thought.

_All you have to do is follow the toadstools. _

Gaige blinked. Her face was chaffing now from the cooling, drying tears and the wind whipping at her cheeks. She wiped her arm over her face and took a deep breath.

Equipping her gun, she set off deeper into the forest. Her eyes searched in the dark for toadstools.

* * *

FL4K had wandered out of the bar and back into the town.

The other townsfolk had seemingly vanished. Their store fronts were darkened. The was no sense of movement anywhere.

FL4K ventured further down the town’s main drag, observing the buildings.

What holiday they had prepared for was unbeknownst to them. Even though FL4K had assisted many archivist in the Great Library, he had read of nothing that resembled this celebration. Orange gourds sat in front of doorways and decorated railings while plastic insects hung from the porches and awning. FL4K was intrigued by the practice but had other things on their mind.

Finding Leon was of first priority. They’d needed to make sure Leon was safe before continuing the mission. If FL4K’s calculations were correct, by the time they finished walking to Leon and starting up the car, Amara and Moze would be ready to leave.

And if they hadn’t then FL4K would be dragging the two out and throwing them into the vehicle themselves.

A low growl had caught FL4K’s attention. They turned to see the streak of something duck between buildings and out of sight.

“Is someone there?”

The growl continued as FLAK turned to look to the side. This time they caught the head of something, a creature?

FL4K continued on the path, alarmed and allured all the same.

What had been the thing dancing just on the edge of their vision?

Could it have been something new?

The vehicles were coming into view, Leon along with them. The skag popped up and barked. FL4K greeted the animal and then knelt to the ground.

“Leon, I need you to track something for me,"


End file.
